Playing well in all three formats has earned Virat Kohli the tag of a great cricketer, says Mike Gatting
Former England skipper Mike Gatting believes that Virat Kohli’s success in all three formats of the game has earned him the right to be called a cricketing great. Gatting added that he was especially impressed by the Indian’s love for Test cricket, while also offering his opinion on the Ashes.
Recently, Gatting was at the launch of 'Fortune Turners', a book chronicling the exploits of the famous Indian quartet of spinners Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkatraghavan.
However, he was all talk about the modern day greats, particularly the skipper of the Men in Blue.
"I am very glad that he is among those players who believe that Test cricket is the pinnacle. It's a wonderful thing to say given the pressure he must be under to speak up for T20 cricket. To be regarded as a great player, you have to be good in Tests and he's been fantastic. Yes, Kane Williamson is playing very well, Steve Smith is back now, but to see someone like Virat play so well in all three formats of the game has, without doubt, earned him the tag of a great cricketer," Gatting told TNN, reported TOI.
Gatting’s home country, England, are involved in the oldest rivalry of the game – the Ashes. Australia won in the opening Ashes Test at Birmingham convincingly. Gatting believes these are still early days, and it is difficult to predict which team would eventually triumph.
"Well, I still feel that we have an interesting series of games ahead. I feel we'll have a result in every remaining Test. Going into the next game, it's a question of who recovers faster. The two batting sides are very similar. Steve Smith held things together for Australia (in the 1st Test). Get Smith out and it will be interesting to see how they cope," he said.
The Englishman has been part of two of the most famous moments in the history of cricket – that ‘reverse sweep’ in the 1987 World Cup final against Australia, and being clean bowled by Shane Warne with the ‘ball of the century.’ Of course, Gatting was eventually asked about that ‘reverse sweep’ in the final which Australia triumphed by seven runs.
"All that I would say is any shot you get out to is not a good shot. In my time the selectors said if you play the reverse sweep again, you won't be in the team any longer, which was pretty harsh. But it was an innovation nonetheless. But today if you can't play the reverse sweep, you can't get into the side anymore," Gatting said.
The other episode, the Warne dismissal, occurred during the first Test of the 1993 Ashes at Old Trafford.
"It was just amazing. Warne bowled the ball, it pitched and it turned. I watched it, I missed it, it missed my body and it just hit the top of off-stump. It was only the bail that came off. I kept watching and Ian Healy, the wicketkeeper, jumped up and asked me to leave like the Australians do. The most disappointing thing was that it was close to tea time and Graham Gooch the captain remarked: 'Hey you lost your concentration. It was tea time!" Gatting added.